Liberty, Missouri

Liberty is a city in Missouri and the county seat of Clay County. It was settled in 1822, and prominent lawyers David Rice Atchison and Alexander William Doniphan established legal practices in the city. In 1838, following the 1838 Mormon War, Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders were incarcerated in Liberty Jail, and Doniphan defended Smith in trial and succeeded in achieving a change of venue. While en route to their new venue, Smith and his followers escaped and founded a new settlement at Nauvoo, Illinois. In 2016, Liberty had a population of 30,614.